a thousand souls crossed over
by irishcookie
Summary: Bonnie is finally settling into life as the bridge between the living and the dead. That is until Kol Mikaelson shows up and refuses to leave until she does him a favor: give a message to his family in New Orleans. Of course, that is just the beginning. Set in Season 5 with shades of AU, crossover with The Originals. No set pairing at the moment.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: So I woke up this morning with an idea in head. It was very much inspired by the 100****th**** episode of TVD where Matt asked Bonnie if she sees anyone she knows. It was meant to be a quick Kennett drabble but now I have it as sketched out as a series. With the ideas in my head, I am making no promises as to an endgame pairing (if romance even comes to the forefront). It will cross over with **_**The Originals**_**. The title comes from a line in the song "Dance back from the Grave" by Marc Cohn (it's about New Orleans). I sincerely hope you enjoy! **

**A Thousand Souls Crossed Over**

**Part One**

"Little witch."

In truth, she has been waiting for this moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind. It's not as if she goes about her daily business expecting it to happen but she has always known intuitively that it would.

Therefore when she turns to face him, she is not wide eyed or slack jawed. Her lips are pressed together and her gaze is cool. He looks very much the same as he did when she left him pinned in the bowels of the school. Her head tilts just a little, an unconscious triumphant gloat. She had been able to pull the wool over his eyes - considering everything that followed, the time she had spent wandering the Other Side, she feels entitled to find whatever good she can in the situation.

"Hello, Kol," she states evenly. Thankfully, they are alone. Or, she is alone because he is not really there. If anyone comes across her, they will find her talking to the space in front of her. Perhaps they will chalk it up to freshman stress - midterms and papers. She doesn't worry about that now. She focuses all her attention on him, on how to make him go away.

"You've cut your hair. It suits you," he observes. He still has that look about him - predator watching prey even though he is the one who is dead and gone.

Her control falters. She makes a face. He hasn't sought her out to compliment her fashion sense. She recovers quickly, one arm crossing over the other. She will not, under any circumstance, ask him why he is here. She is not interested in giving him a podium to stand on. "I figured - time for a change, new chance at _life_ and all."

He raises a brow. Smiles.

"I've got class." She turns on her heels and leaves him standing there, hands jammed in the pockets of the jacket he died in.

**X**

She does most of her work in a study carrel in the library. It's easier this way. Her dorm is a bit chaotic - with two of out of three of them in various stages of a breakup. Caroline is always trying to think of novel ways to get over Tyler (Bonnie had never heard of a _post relationship luau_ until the other night) and Elena spends most of her time looking like a walking talking mop of brown hair. She almost feels guilty for being happy with Jeremy.

_Almost_.

Because truthfully, it's hard to feel guilty when you remember that you have spent months utterly alone watching the world move on without you. She deserves him - she deserves the smile he puts on her face.

Tonight she has her books spread out in front of her. She is lost in the complexities of physics (and wondering how many theories would change if the scientists who made them knew of the supernatural) when someone clears their throat. She blinks and looks up. Frowns.

Obviously their encounter the other day was not meant to a one-time thing.

The library is not quite as empty as the hall she first encountered him in. He leans against her carrel as she sighs, and gathers her things. So much for solitude. He follows her out into the cool fall evening. She decides to leave the first words to him and therefore takes a path that winds like a maze throughout the Whitmore campus. Kol is right beside her, hands clasped behind his back as if they are friends sharing a quiet moment. Finally, when they have nearly doubled back to where they started she whirls on her heels. "What?!"

He bows his head a little, a smile playing across his lips. "I would have followed you all night if you hadn't broken."

She furrows her brows. "Why?" It slips out almost on accident and she winces at how easily she has conceded. There - she supposes she has done it. Given him his platform.

"I'm bored."

_That's it?_ That is why she is now face to face with Kol Mikaelson. He is _bored?!_

Bonnie bristles, eyes narrowing to slits. He doesn't hold back his smile now. "I am not a source of entertainment. Go play hide and seek with the other ghosts."

"You know, just as well as I, how rare it is to find another here. You could walk for years and never see another soul." He moves so that he stands directly in front of her. His eyes travel over her in such a manner that her fingers twitch to strike him. "You on the other hand - you burn brightly. I can _see you_ no matter where I am. We all can. It's how the ones that get here find you. You are their North Star."

It would be almost poetic if one doesn't consider the realities of being the anchor. Or that the words come from him, the vampire who had once wrapped his hands so tightly around her neck in an effort to send her hurtling towards her own north star. "I don't care if I am lit up like a supernova. I am not going to let you use me as a cure for your boredom."

He tilts his head, a near mirror of the movement she had made the other day. He is ready to do a little gloating of his own. "Just how do you plan to stop me?"

**X**

Apparently he does find other things to amuse him because she does not see him for a few weeks. In all honesty, Bonnie had spent the first few days after he had laid down the taunt turning her head at every sound for fear that she would find him standing there grinning like the Cheshire cat. She was careful to avoid crowds in case he decided to pop up and demand her attention. She had glanced over her shoulder enough times for Caroline to pull her aside and ask her if she was okay (considering Caroline had been in the middle of backsliding into the crying stage of the breakup, Bonnie's actions must have been noticeable). Bonnie had shrugged it off.

Eventually, she had decided that she could relax. That maybe Kol had beaten the odds and was slinging mud at his father, or bitching about Klaus with Finn. Either way, she had sighed, let her shoulders drop and stopped expecting him.

Big mistake.

**X**

She turns on her side, burying her face into her pillow. There is a whoosh of breath that betrays her frustration. She is exhausted, so much so that she aches but yet she can't seem to drift off. Earlier a vampire had crossed. She had doubled over, her mouth forming a scream of pain that just would not come out. In the moments after it had happened, she had leaned heavily against the brick building, blinking away tears.

It always surprises her just how much it hurts.

She needs to rest but the pain is still there, curled in the bottom of her stomach. It will fade of course but that takes time. Right now she is losing precious sleep. She has a lab in the morning and she is not keen to being around an open flame on a few hours of rest. She utters a curse (ever so quietly of course - having two roommates with keen hearing has its downfalls) and turns once again.

There he is. Stretched out on her bed, his head resting in his palms as he stares at the ceiling. She can't even stop herself. She yelps.

Elena wakes first, her body snapping to a seated position at an alarming speed. Caroline is by Bonnie's bedside seconds later. They both look at her with wide eyes.

Kol laughs.

**X**

From that moment on, he becomes a regular fixture in her life.

Kol follows her to class, plops down beside her, and scoffs at the professor's interpretation of the French Revolution. "Niklaus started it, you know," he mutters as he stretches out his feet. They rest on the top of the blonde seated in front of him. Bonnie wonders if the living feels any inkling at all of the dead that surround them. She watches the girl for a moment, gets caught staring and receives a look that tells her she has just been filed away as 'strange' in the girl's eyes. Kol chuckles. "Making friends I see."

Bonnie sinks in her seat a little, content to ignore him. He spends the next hour telling her a tale of how Klaus had single handily turned a country upside down by being his 'usual prick of a self'. She never once bats an eye in his direction, doing her best to concentrate on the professor.

Later she discovers that bits of Kol's story have crept into her notes and snarls.

**X**

"I never went to college," Kol admits as she picks her fork through some baked pasta dish that looks as if it has been reheated from lunch time. Around her others are repeating the same action, no doubt contemplating breaking into their reserve cash to spring for some pizza. She breathes through her nose, and casually glances up. Her eyes met his and he smiles. "Lovely. You are at least acknowledging me. You hurt my feelings you know - ignoring me as you do."

Surprisingly it tastes better than it looks. Bonnie closes her eyes, wishing that Elena or Caroline had joined her instead of opting for a liquid supper. She would have something to concentrate on instead of _him_. It was harder when she was seemingly alone. Her voice is soft, a whisper that is almost inaudible. He has to lean in to hear her. "I am not crazy."

"Of course you're not!" He responds, making a face. "Why on earth would you think that?"

"I would be, if I carried on a conversation with you whenever you deemed it necessary to drop by," she counters. Her eyes dart around the door but thankfully no one has noticed her talking into her noodle surprise. "In their eyes…"

He scoffs. "Who the hell cares what a bunch of walking blood bags think of you?"

She does. Truly. College - that is supposed to be her bit of normal after the past year. She is supposed to do normal college things. Go to parties. Stay up all night studying. Eat Chinese takeout at all hours. Sleep til noon.

She _deserves_ it. Her high school career had been plagued by one near death experience after another. She wonders how she even pulled it together enough to be crowned Prom Queen let alone graduate. She just wants one thing that isn't wholly tainted by the supernatural. Sure, it's not perfect. There are times she has to leave a lecture to let someone through to the Other Side. Elena's doppelganger status still makes her a magnet for trouble - but Bonnie has been doing exceptionally well at filtering those things into different compartments. College isn't tainted yet.

Kol is making her rethink that. Just by being there.

She doesn't answer his question. Somehow she thinks he figures out what she would have said anyway. She just sits there, a mouthful of her supper half chewed and wonders if there is any way she can take it back.

"I never went to college," he repeats. "But then again, I never really had a chance. Niklaus was always sticking me in that bloody box for bad behavior. I think I would have liked it though - or at least liked the easy access to a meal."

Noodle surprise quickly loses what little appeal it had going for it.

**X**

She has to admit, she misses being a witch. She misses that connection to the earth, the feel of power flowing through her body. She had come so far in just a few years; from floating feathers to raising the dead (she never dwells on the fact that that rapid progression is why she is no longer a witch). She tells herself when she longs for power that she did as much good as she could in the time she had.

However, she still longs.

Especially right now, as she writes the dreaded midterm.

Kol is right beside her, singing what she can only assume is a myriad of filthy limericks. She is trying her best to concentrate on the complexities of the question but it is hard when some of the things that slip from his mouth cause her eyes to bulge. She wishes desperately for her magic so she can make him stop. She can practically see every blood vessel in his head pop time and time again until he is on the ground writhing in pain. She wouldn't stop there - she'd throw him so far into the Other Side he would wander for a decade just to find her 'bright light'.

But of course as much as she wants her magic, she doesn't get it.

When the proctor calls time, she still has at least ten questions to complete. She throws him such a look of fury that he falls silent. He remains silent as he follows her from the exam room. She stomps her way off campus with him on her heels. She doesn't stop until she isolates herself. The only other being she sees is him. Weeks of frustration boil over.

"Are you trying to **punish** me for leaving you there? Is that it? Because I wouldn't let you unleash hell on earth!" She cries and is surprised to find that her whole body shakes in anger. "Is this how I am going to spend eternity? With you?"

He looks surprised. Honestly. She falls silent as she takes in the dumbfounded look on his face. "Punish you - there's a novel idea. I wish I had actually thought of it. My last moments on the proper side of life were spent with the girl who helped kill me. Hardly the way I had thought I would go."

Bonnie sags a little, so angry that tears glitter her eyes. "If not to punish, Kol, then _what?_"

Kol doesn't answer her right away. He merely watches her in the state she is currently in. She almost thinks he pities her and envisions tackling him to the ground to sink her nails into his skin but then remembers that it will do no good. "I lied." Her jaw falls slack and her brows push together as she waits for him to clarify the statement. "It wasn't boredom that brought me to you. I need something."

"I can't bring you back, Kol. It's not a two way door," she tells him.

He bows his head and she hears him laugh. "Oh no no, I am well aware that is now my fate. Forever doomed to wander. That is not what I need from you."

"Just _tell _me," she says and realizes she is not averse to pleading. Begging. _Anything _if he would just get to the heart of it all. She has spent weeks listening to him, knowing he was right behind her, fearing that the next time she would press her lips to Jeremy's that he would be in the corner ready to provide commentary.

"I need to speak with my family," he finally says, his voice having taken on a tone she has never heard. It's solemn with just a hint of longing. "And you need to help me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you for your lovely feedback. You have no idea how excited I get to read it! I am glad you guys are digging the premise. For the purposes of this story I am going with the assumption that Jeremy can't see ghosts since returning from the dead (because it seems to come and go on the show). I hope you continue to enjoy where this little tale takes you. I am having fun writing it. **

**A Thousand Souls Crossed Over**

_Part Two _

She turns him down of course.

Flat out refuses to even hear any more of it. He stands ramrod straight and thankfully does not follow as she quickly retreats to the relative safety of her dorm room. She sinks down on her bed, embracing the rare silence and just blinks. 

Contact _the Mikaelson's_?

As far as Bonnie is concerned the moment they left Mystic Falls a weight had been lifted. Sure, it's not perfect but they no longer have to worry about the Original Family Feud. Klaus and the rest of them can level New Orleans to the ground - she is **not** wandering into the fray. 

The door opens and Bonnie's head shoots up, eyes wide as if she expects Kol to be standing there. Instead it is Caroline, who mirrors Bonnie's look of trepidation. "That bad?" 

"What?" 

Caroline is quick to settle on the bed beside her. "If helps, I think I bombed my midterm too. Why couldn't one of the perks of being a vampire be photographic memory?" She huffs and lays her head on Bonnie's shoulder. Bonnie's tilts so it rests against the blonde's. She is perfectly okay letting Caroline think she failed her test (because she most likely did). It saves her from explaining how long Kol Mikaelson has been lurking around in the shadows making faces behind her back. The last thing she needs is to trigger the mother hen instinct in Caroline Forbes. Though her heart is in the right place, it is not pretty.

In the end the two lay back on the bed, side by side and stare at the ceiling.

"I thought it was going to be different, you know," Caroline finally says, her voice a bit listless. Her fingers trace circles in Bonnie's bedspread and she sighs. "College, I mean. I thought it would be a fresh start." She pauses. "I guess...in a way it is. It just…"

"...hurts," Bonnie finishes. She glances over at her best friend and sees the pain etched over her face. She feels helpless and despises it. When she was still trapped on the Other Side, watching everyone's life as if she were looking in a mirror she had gotten used to that feeling. She would scream in frustration knowing that no one could hear her. The people she loved needed her and she could do little. She thought she rid herself of that feeling when she came back.

It was a lovely thought.

Bonnie takes a deep breath. "It will get better, you know. It sounds like a cliché, and I suppose it is. But really, it will."

"I know," Caroline answers, in a matter of fact manner. She sounds as if she had come to that conclusion weeks ago and is now just waiting for it to happen. "I still love him. I always will. I am just counting down to the day that I can say that and not feel like someone just punched me in the boob."

Bonnie makes a face at Caroline's choice of words. A moment later she snorts and covers her mouth with the back of her hand to stifle it. She gives Caroline a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I meant it that way. Laughing is better than crying," she says but she can't quite bring herself to join in.

There is a moment of silence, but it is a comfortable one.

Calm before the storm.

"You know, I hear there is a moment in college where two friends look into one another's' eyes and throw caution to the wind. Lips meet and a new passion is explored. I believe this is _your_ moment."

Every part of Bonnie's body tenses. Beside her, Caroline notices and she pulls herself up on her elbows. "Bon?"

Kol chuckles and Bonnie's eyes finally fall on him. He is leaning against the fireplace, one arm crossed over another. She wonders how long he has been there, what he has heard. "Just how are you going to explain this one, little witch?"

She has to say something. Caroline is two breaths away from launching herself into full worry wort mode. It comes to the surface much quicker these days - for obvious reasons. Both occupants of the room (the seen and the unseen) watch her expectantly. She sits up slowly. "I...was just thinking about how spectacularly I blew that midterm today that's all. I need to try harder."

Caroline relaxes a little. "We both do. Let's do it together, okay? We can be each other's study buddies. Oh_!_ I think I saw some study snack packs on Pinterest! Brain food!" She claps her hands together and launches herself off Bonnie's bed in search of her phone.

As Caroline digs through her purse, Bonnie glances over at Kol. He presses his lips and shrugs.

"Beautiful recovery."

**X**

"So is this how it is going to work now?" Bonnie asks as she walks. It's near nightfall and there are few others milling about on campus. She is not as worried about anyone coming upon her muttering to herself. "You're just going to be my shadow until I give in."

"It seems a solid plan," Kol retorts. He has fallen in line with her steps, close enough that she can feel him.

It still unnerves her to realize that the living and the dead appear much the same. She thinks of Amara, of how in her final days she couldn't even tell the difference between the two. She had shied away from any form of contact for fear of the pain that might come with it. Is that her fate? To one day question what is truly here, to be driven out of her mind? She sometimes worries that it might be, but then she reasons that Amara was alone, trapped with no one to ground her. She has Jeremy, Caroline, Elena - _living_ beings that will keep her rooted to the right side of things.

"Are you forgetting what happened the last time you tried to get me to play my hand in your favor?" Bonnie asks, tucking her study notes into her bag. She is thinking a healthy dose of sugar and a night spent pouring over her textbook is in order. She has a feeling the Original beside her has other plans.

"I haven't - and I must say that was an impressive move. I never saw it coming. You are much more intelligent than I initially gave you credit for," he states.

"Flattering me is not going to make a difference," she tells him. And she means it. She has always been stubborn; it is what has allowed her to go into battle despite knowing the odds time and time again.

"I am well aware of that." He laughs and Bonnie's step falters. She has quickly learned that nothing good follows that sound. "I know to win this fight I am going to have to be much more cunning than that. Or - " And here it comes. "I can just stick to my plan as you outlined it. Be _your_ shadow. Never leave your side. Picture it. Late night conversations. One sided at first of course; we wouldn't want the doppelganger and the blonde to think you are losing your mind. But sooner or later, you'll start answering. You won't be able to help it. Sleep deprivation wears down one's resolve, no matter how firm it is in the beginning. I will let you get some rest of course. I am not entirely a monster. While you're drifting off, I'll amuse myself by watching you. Or Elena. I might just lean over her sleeping form and whisper all the ways I wish for her to suffer. Who knows? Maybe one or two will twist their way into her nightmares."

She can no longer listen passively. She turns toward him, eyes blazing. Her first instinct is to bend in the name of protecting her friend. She has done it often enough that it is almost like breathing. At the last second, however, she reminds herself of one simple fact. He is dead; Elena is alive: they exist on two very different planes. "You can't hurt her. She doesn't know are there. She'll never know. You can throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the dorm over what she has done to you and the only one that can hear you is me. I can take it."

He leans in now, so close that all she can see is the black of his eyes. "We'll see."

**X**

Jeremy plans to come to visit that weekend.

Instead of being excited, she finds herself dreading it. Kol has pretty much stuck to the plan he outlined - following her everywhere like a puppy demanding attention (hardly an accurate comparison but it is the best she can do on few hours' sleep). She has made gains in her ability to ignore him, especially when it comes to sitting in lecture halls. It is not perfect (for his voice creeps into her notes) but it is a start.

But still - there are unguarded moments that he manages to completely dominate.

Like the shower incident.

He had been sitting on her bed as she gathered her things for a much needed dose of hot water. She had given him the eye before slipping into the bathroom but he hadn't even glanced in her direction.

It was a mistake to think she would get five minutes of uninterrupted solitude.

She hadn't even realized he had followed at first. She had been too engrossed in the idea of absolute quiet (the hiss of the shower doesn't count) to notice him with his rear plunked on the sink. He had waited too, choosing just the right moment to leisurely announce that he despised shower curtains, but could fill in the rest with his imagination.

Her scream had brought both Caroline and Elena running. They had crowded in the bathroom, Elena so close to Kol that he had taken a fruitless swipe at her. Bonnie had told them she saw a bug, a big one at that. That had been enough to set Caroline off and even Elena had grimaced. Both had left her with him.

"You can't stay in there forever," he had reminded her.

No, but she was not giving him a free show. She had turned off the water, and stuck her hand out to blindly grope for the towel. After a few awkward attempts her fingers wrapped around it and she had yanked it into the safe zone. She hadn't even bothered to dry off, instead just twisting it around her so she could fly out of the shower. With hair plastered to her face and dripping wet skin, she had leveled her best glare at him.

He had laughed.

Which is why she is not looking forward to Jeremy's visit - Kol is not deterred by her. In fact, she is quite sure that he is amused by her attempts to banish him. She can only imagine him playing third wheel on her date. It isn't pretty.

Of course even her imagination cannot hold a candle to reality.

Jeremy is a little put out from the beginning. He has noticed her distracted demeanor. Add to that, Bonnie has stopped him from coming the past week (under the guise of midterms of course) and Jeremy is left feeling disposable. She has a bit of work to do to get him to smile but when he does, she relaxes a little. Her arm is looped through his so that their fingers can tangle together. Her head falls to his shoulder and he turns his to brush his lips over her hair. She lets her eyes fall close, blocking out the rest of the world, blocking out _him_ (which is never a smart move but she can't help herself).

"In truth," Kol begins and she screws her eyes shut tightly. Out of sight, out of mind (funny how that is _never_ true). "I never quite understood your attraction to this one. I spent time with him, you know. In Denver. Pretended to be his friend and everything. He is _unremarkable_ in every way. Quite frankly, a woman of your caliber deserves much better."

She almost hisses aloud for him to shut up but then she knows how Jeremy will react to that. Her eyes slowly open, finding Kol stretched out on Caroline's bed this time. He looks out of place on lavender sheets but then again that is his point, isn't it?

Jeremy's lips are at her temple now, pressing more insistently. His hand glides over the curve of her hip and it is clear what is on his mind. Her head tips back so she can meet his eyes, and her mind races to think of what she can say that will let down him gently. She doesn't even get to speak; instead he is kissing her, making up for lost time. Bonnie is tense for a split second but then her hand is sliding up his chest to tangle in the hair at the back of his head.

"He told me about the ghost chick. _Anna_, right?" Kol continues as if he does not have a front row seat. Bonnie's fingers curl and jerk in an automatic response to the painful memory. Jeremy makes a noise. Pain? Kol continues unabated. "He poured the whole story out after one beer. How he had this great thing going but he screwed it all up because he just couldn't help himself. He _wanted _to kiss her. He _had_ to kiss her. And it was, by his own account, a _hell_ of a kiss."

Bonnie pulls back, her eyes wide and blazing. Jeremy looks utterly lost as to her sudden shift in mood. Her chest is heaving, consumed by the memory of how she felt when she realized she couldn't compete with a ghost. She tells herself it is silly. Jeremy clearly has shown whom he loves.

But still, it _aches_.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, letting go of her grip on his hair. He is searching her face, no doubt looking for a clue. "There's...just a lot going on right now. With school. And both Elena and Caroline hurting over their breakups." Not to mention the Original now standing behind Jeremy with a look of self-satisfaction. "I just...my head is everywhere but where it should be."

Jeremy takes a pause. "Okay. We can just chill," he tells her but there is a stiffness to his voice that tells her he is adding this to the pile of her behavior lately and coming up with his own conclusions. She wants to prove him wrong. She wants to throw her arms around him, press her mouth to kiss. Forget about Anna (she is long gone anyway). But she can't forget about Kol - and even if she tried, he would remind her.

Jeremy leaves in the morning. She gives him a kiss to erase the previous night's behavior and thankfully he returns it with gusto. She promises that she'll make it up to him. Soon. When he is out of sight, she turns.

Of course, Kol is standing there.

**X**

"Your brother tried to kill me. More than once," Bonnie tells him.

"You should consider it an honor. He finds most people too insignificant to waste the energy on," Kol retorts. He is plunked down right beside her, shoulder to shoulder. She is staring straight ahead at the empty dorm room. Elena and Caroline are at a party to officially celebrate surviving midterms (not that a college needs a reason to party). They had tried to convince Bonnie to come but she is too worried about the devil on her shoulder to let loose properly. She knows that they both realize something is inherently wrong and it is only a matter of time before they try to get to the bottom of it like the good friends they are.

"Come to think of it, Elijah tried to kill me too. Only, Stefan and Damon thought they'd be smart and found a loophole instead." Which involved turning her mother into a vampire, something else she would forever have a kneejerk reaction too. "Why would I want to get within a hundred feet of them, Kol?"

"Fair point. But the alternative is to have me encroach on every part of your life. Seems to me you are caught between a rock and a hard place," he states as if he is there to help her find a solution instead of being part of the problem. "Though I am sure I am a delight to be around I doubt the total loss of social interaction not to mention the decimation of your intimate life is worth it in the end."

"Emotional blackmail on a Monday night," she muses aloud. She is weary in so many ways. "I should have gone to the party. I could have gotten drunk."

He continues on as if she hasn't spoken. "I think you are a capable girl. You can handle my family. Besides, once they realize why you are there, they will be less likely to go for the throat…"

"Unless they would rather not talk to you," she says before she can stop herself. There is a flash of something on his face and she finds herself regretting her choice in words.

"I will leave," he states, his tone more businesslike than it was moments before. "After it is all said and done. You will never have to see my face again."

She is silent. So much so that she can hear the thump of the bass from across the campus. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips and she glances to him.

"You _promise_?"

**X**

Telling her friends that she is taking some time off is easier than she first thinks. Yes, they try to talk her out of it. Yes, they ask a thousand questions but she has one simple answer: she needs to slow down, acknowledge what she has lost instead of trying to ignore it. She has been _dead_ for God's sake. She has watched her father die, been forced to be an invisible observer at his funeral. These are things that she shouldn't be able to so easily bounce back from. She plays it off as if she has been in avoidance mode, burying herself in college life in hopes that maybe she can push down the pain (maybe there is some truth to that).

It is impossible for Caroline and Elena to argue with that. Even Jeremy comes around after a few phone calls. She tells them all that she is not running away from them, nor her second chance at life. Instead, she is just putting a few things on pause until she wraps her head around everything. She'll be at her mother's; it's quiet, out of the way...the perfect place to think. She promises to text every day. Call too. She even emails professors and ensures that she will not be throwing away all the work she has done thus far (even if some of it is less than stellar).

She hopes to be a few days, but she plans for the worst (this is the Mikaelson family she is talking about).

After one last rib bruising hug from Caroline, Bonnie leaves Whitmore with Kol in tow. She decides to take the bus. It's the cheapest option and frankly in the hours it takes to get to New Orleans she is hoping to formulate a solid backup plan if things go south (she nearly snorts at the word _if_). Instead of scheming however, Bonnie nods off with her head pressed to the glass of the window. For the first time in a while, she gets hours of interrupted sleep. When she awakes it is pitch black out. She blinks, arching her back much like a cat to work out the kinks.

"Feeling better?" Kol asks and she swivels her body to realize he has seated himself next to her. Funny, she remembered plunking herself down next to a rather benign looking old lady. Though she supposed it didn't matter - Kol was not really taking up the space, not in the physical sense at least. "I believe you've been sleeping for about...eight hours now."

She frowns, checks her phone to confirm he is telling the truth and then rubs the back of her neck. She supposes she is no longer exhausted but there is no _feeling better_. Not with what she is about to do. She glances out the window and notes the blur of lights, buildings. This is not Smalltown, USA. Her nerves start to dance.

When there is a whoosh of air, followed by a high pitched squeal that signalled the bus is slowing down moments later, she wonders if she is squirming in her seats. She has no choice but to stand, grab her bag from the compartment overhead and walk off the relative safety of the bus to the unknown.

She crosses her arms over her chest, an automatic move to make herself feel _safe_. Beside her, Kol takes a deep breath as if he can actually enjoy his surroundings. When he looks at her, he grins.

"Welcome to the Big Easy, little witch."

**And thus begins Bonnie's adventures in New Orleans. I know some people indicated that they don't watch The Originals so I hope you won't be lost. I plan to introduce the characters through Bonnie's eyes so it is like you are meeting them for the first time anyway. Thanks again for reading! **


End file.
